If you’ve walked through any TJ Maxx, Marshalls or Homegoods store you know Rae Dunn is in every single aisle. From clothing to soaps, towels to mugs, Rae Dunn’s iconic font is plastered on everything you could ever think of. Women are obsessed with the brand and now are called “the Rae Dunn Women.” What makes this such a popular following? Why are so many women drawn to her basic aesthetic and creating a cult-like culture over her products?
Rae Dunn started with just mugs, you had the Mr. & Mrs., His & Hers and even the classic but first, coffee. Her style was simplistic and imperfect. Her goal was to create mugs that looked like they were made by someone else, not massed produced. It was just a hobby at first, but then it turned into so much more. She was the woman-owned brand that many would start to lose their minds over.
In a February 2021 VICE article, I learned how employees of the retailers were warned about the Rae Dunn women. A group of these women will go store to store to buy out all the Rae Dunn products. Once they retrieve the goods, they upsell them online and make their profit. The amount of money these ladies spend is shocking.
On average, these Rae Dunner’s spend around $15,000 in 6 months on these products. As a result, a lot of them go into serious debt. Not sure where to find the one Rae Dunn product you’ve been searching for? There’s a Facebook group for that. There are quite a few of them. It’s almost like a treasure hunt for a product. These ladies get the inside scoop and boom, they get in their cars, and they are determined to get that item. But to get on the inside of one of these groups, you must prove yourself and show that you are a true Rae Dunner and not a fake fan. A blogger, Dedreanna Drost explained that she didn’t know if she was collecting the brand for the thrill like so many or if she even liked it. She admitted to having an unhealthy obsession with it. She purchased a few products resold them on Facebook Rae Dunn Groups within minutes. Dedreanna started to question what she was doing just for an upsell.
You may have one, two or twenty Rae Dunn items sitting in your home. Do you like the product? Or are you jumping on the bandwagon with others who can’t seem to stop? The influence of a brand can sometimes turn a person into an obsessive collector, and they enjoy the rush to find it all. But in the end, it’s a product, you can’t take it with you when you’re gone, is it really worth the short-lived thrill?